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Apostle
Apostles are the reoccurring antagonists of the Berserk series. Background Though the machinations of the Idea of Evil, an Apostle is a demonic monster that was originally human. The people who become Apostles gained a Behelit and, after a series of unfortunate events, activate it through their blood in a moment of utter despair. These people discarded their humanity and become monstrous servants of the God Hand by offering their loved ones as payment. As a consequence, one can deem an Apostle as one who is rejected by humanity and rejects humanity in return. But there are levels to an Apostle's power depending on how deep in the Astral Plane when they discard their humanity, the usual variety of Apostles transforming their bodies into monstrous beasts while few can actually become one with the elements themselves. The Apostles have only one absolute law decreed on them by God Hand: "Do as thou wilt," allowing all Apostles to act on their free will in how they use their new status of being. However, there have been cases of Apostles who use that law as an excuse to act against the God Hand's wishes like Ganishka. But such a Apostle whose actions jeopardize the grand design in the God Hand's plans would be quickly killed by a fellow Apostle of equal status. But while the Apostles have that freedom, they have usually answer the call of the God Hand when they are needed as seen for their migratory gathering at the site of the Eclipses and later to join Griffith's Neo Band of the Hawk. Appearance The Apostle forms of different Apostles vary greatly from warped versions of animals to demonic and hellish monstrosities with their human forms appearing anywhere on the body. Most, but not all Apostles are much larger than an average man; stronger ones like Irvine and Locus are more medium in height. The features of their true form are often reflected in their human form; for example Wyald's ape like face. More advanced Apostles like Locus, Irvine and Grunbeld maintain most of their former human life. Only two exceptions (Rosine and the Egg-Shaped Apostle) have preferred non human forms. When an Apostle is killed, his or her body reverts back to its original human form from before they became an Apostle, with all injuries remaining on the human body analogous to the injured parts of the Apostle's body. (note Wyald's old man form torn in half and with Guts' broken sword through his neck.) Personality Many apostles are defined by their lack of empathy, extreme desire and sadism. There are exceptional disciplined apostles such as Zodd, Grunbeld, Irivne and Locus. However many exist solely to prey on humans. They have an inhuman enjoyment of pain, Apostles such as the Count used his authority to round up supposed heretics and torture them, the apostle spawn of Rosine routinely killed one another for fun in imitations of War. The apostle emperor Ganishka desecrated the Wyndam city with mutilated corpses of the citizens he massacred. Abilities Almost every Apostle shows up in the series in a human form, but they are all capable of transforming into something that is typically larger than their previous form. The act of doing so doesn't seem to be painful in the slightest to any Apostle and varies with different Apostles. Some are instantaneous while others might do a special stance or action before changing form. It should also be noted that changing form is not permanent, and Apostles can always return back to their human states whenever they desire (as shown with Zodd frequently). History List of Apostles # Nosferatu Zodd # Wyald† # Count† # Borkoff # Rosine† # Female Apostle† # Vlad Tepes† # Snake Baron† # Egg-Shaped Apostle† # Charles† # Locus # Grunbeld # Irvine # Ganishka† Gallery Trivia Category:Apostle Category:Races